3 Reasons to Use a Credit Card for Your Summer Vacation

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If you’re among the two-thirds of Americans planning to take a trip this summer, you should probably be paying for it with a credit card.

As long as you’re able to pay off your balance in full at the end of each month, using a credit card to cover travel booking and expenses on the road offers several benefits. Here are three of the biggest:

1. Travel insurance: More than 90 percent of credit card companies offer travel accident insurance, worth an average of $416,000, according to a new report from WalletHub. Some cards also provide insurance for lost or delayed luggage or trip cancellations. The terms of each card are different, however, so check the fine print in your agreement before booking.

2. Rewards. Credit card companies have gotten extremely generous with rewards in recent years, and travel is one of the best categories in which to earn extras. Most rewards cards now offer a base of at least 1 percent cash back, but travel cards often provide an additional bonus for spending on things like airfare or hotel stays.

3. Security. As annoying as it is to get those fraud alerts from your card issuer whenever your spending pattern changes (like when you’re on vacation), they’re a key part of keeping your finances secure. You can cancel or freeze a credit card account if you lose your card, but you’re out of luck if your cash is lost or stolen on vacation.